


Bubblegum Popcorn.

by thatsnotevenfunnyinenochian



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-02
Updated: 2013-07-11
Packaged: 2017-12-17 11:59:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/867276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatsnotevenfunnyinenochian/pseuds/thatsnotevenfunnyinenochian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Our relationship started because we met at a concert for a pop-punk band, that literally screams 'dysfunctional relationship between two messed up teenagers'"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, I'd just like to say that I'm actually really proud of this. And also a warning that this may contain mentions of abuse, violence, and maybe suicide. I'll keep you updated!

Dean never knew why he found these places so peaceful, realistically concert venues were noisy, a too small room with too many fans squeezed in, the air damp and humid with sweat, beer and adrenaline.

But still, they were still so peaceful. It was like the whole room was united, no matter how big or small. It was something about how the music would stop and everybody would scream the lyrics, how if someone fell they would be helped back up straight away, how people would turn and smile at random strangers because even if you've never met them in your life, you know you have something important in common.

Usually, he would push his way to the front, he'd really try to get involved - but tonight was different, he stayed at the back - mostly because under his shirt, he was covered in bruises and he didn't want to be in even more pain than he was already. Partly because he'd spotted a familiar face next to the bar.

Castiel Novak's.

It was never Castiel though, it was just Cas. The amount of times Dean had overheard him say 'It's just Cas' in the politest way possible in the school hallway was almost uncountable.

Both of them were close to completing their Senior year, along with Cas's twin sister Anna - as in the girl Dean had been trying to flirt with for the past three months. Unlike her brother though, she wasn't the most socially awkward kid in the school and replied to every flirtation with a sarcastic comment about how Dean was a total loser and then walked off, leaving his best friend, Charlie snickering behind him.

"You've spent so much time going with guys, you seem to have forgotten how to flirt with the opposite sex" She would say, he would just glare at her and remember how they'd gotten to be friends in the first place. He was sure it was when he'd decided to come out as bisexual and somebody had told the teacher, who had called Dean into their office to ask them if he needed any support and suggested he tried out the LGBT society club down the road after school.

Dean was known for not giving a fuck about anything, about school, or teachers, or what people thought of him (which was the reason he 'came out' in the first place, if you could call going 'yeah man, I like boys’ and girls' 'coming out' - maybe you could, he just didn't like the term) but for once, he decided to try it out.

Charlie was the only person he recognized there, they became friends and he never step foot in the club again.

He knew more about Cas than Cas did about him though. He knew Cas and Anna were the youngest of the family, and the most rebellious - even if Cas was the quietest kid he knew. The second oldest, Gabriel had left school metaphorically, with a bang. Realistically, with many, colorful, slightly dangerous bangs - since his idea of a senior prank included indoor fireworks in the gym.

He knew his two eldest siblings were off making lots of money somewhere, Michael and Lucy. He was sure they were both politicians on opposing parties; he snickered to himself thinking about the tension over Sunday dinner.

He looked at Cas from across the venue, wondering if he should go up to him. He looked like he was enjoying himself, even if he was alone. Suddenly, Dean got that little twinge of sadness and sympathy when he saw someone alone at a concert – even if he was alone whenever he went to one.

Maybe it was because he knew how it felt.

He decided to approach him after the show.

Cas loved concerts, it was one of the only times he felt like he wasn’t the only crazy person in the room. He felt comfortable, and safe.

He’d arrived just as doors opened, still he ended up stuck in a large group of people who were scrambling to get their tickets checked and make their way into the venue.

His intense dislike of crowds had never really gone well with his love for concerts.

Once he was in, he stayed at the back – he liked having a view of both the stage and the crowd. The band was what most people would describe as a ‘cheesy pop rock band for fourteen year olds from a few states over’, but they’d been one of Cas’s favourites for a while now, even if the majority of their songs were about the lead singer’s ex-girlfriend.

He’d never been much of a ‘dancer’ at shows, but he still lost himself as much as everyone in the crowd did – watching the band, singing along to every single lyric, gently tapping the drum beat on his leg and occasionally smiling at the person next to him.

_“Used to be your knight in shining armour, and I’d rescue you from hell,  
I swear that I could be amazing, I just need a little help”_

The band sang, the crowd sang, Cas sang. He didn’t notice who was stood next to him until the encore was over, and even then it took the boy tapping Cas on the shoulder to get his attention. “Cas, right?” He asked.

Dean Winchester, the boy who was constantly hitting on his sister – which admittedly, was very entertaining to watch Anna complain about constantly.

“I mean he’s cute, but I thought he was gay? Why doesn’t he hit on _you_? Everyone knows your gay!”

“Yes everyone does, no thanks to you. Plus he’s not gay, he’s bi-sexual”

That was how the conversations usually went, he never replied to her question about Dean hitting on him. Dean Winchester was known for being the badass in the leather jacket, the guy who didn’t care what people thought, but if you hurt his younger brother there was a chance he’d leave you for dead behind the closest corner store. 

He was also known for being the best looking boy in school. Cas didn’t like to say anyone was perfect, but sometimes he thought he said that to make himself feel better because Dean was pretty damn close.

And now they were stood face to face. He half expected Dean to be drunk, looking down at him with a patronizing smirk. But he held a cup of water in his hand, and offered it to Cas – which he politely declined.

“Why are you on your own?” Dean asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“No one else liked the band” Cas told him.

“Shame on them, enjoy the show?”

Cas nodded in reply, Dean looked at him for a moment – he could tell his presence was making him anxious. “Well, I have to get back home – I’ll see you around” Dean told him, not giving Cas the chance to say bye.

It was only after Dean turned away Cas remembered he’d not once seen Dean arrive to School in a car, and the venue was at least an hour walk away from his home. He realised he’d tried to be genuinely nice around him, and called Dean’s name – watching him spin around to face him on his heel.

“Do you want a ride home?” Cas asked, Dean looked at him confused for a moment – wondering what on earth had brought Cas to give him that offer. “I mean, I’ve never seen you in a car, and you’re on your own, and it’s the middle of the night in September and”

“-Yeah, sure” Dean answered, cutting off Cas’ rambling with a slight, grateful smile. “Thanks”

Dean wasn’t sure why he accepted the offer, he was left wondering at his own conscience as he followed Cas out the venue and walked five minutes over to the nearest parking lots where kids wearing over sized band shirts and hair still stuck to their forehead with sweat were climbing into their cars. Cas’s car was the fancy, sleek white one in the corner, standing out from the ancient cars and trucks with the bumpers hanging off the back pulling out the lot.

They spent the beginning of the ride both sat in silence, neither knew but they were both thinking how it wouldn’t hurt for Lawrence to have a little more scenery, not just dirt roads and wooden houses. Both of them were reminded how much they both wanted to get out of here just to _live,_ Cas wanted to walk down busy streets with glass buildings towering over him, Dean wanted to drive down highways at night playing music as loud as possible with the Las Vegas lights ahead of him.

But they were both stuck, stuck in Lawrence – as if they were tied down by an anchor and no one around them would cut them free. Dean wouldn’t leave anyway, not until Sam was old enough – he couldn’t leave him with Dad.

“This might sound weird…” Cas suddenly said, attempting conversation. “I’ve always looked up to you, kinda like a role model, you know?” He looked over to Dean, who looked confused. Cas shook his head and cursed at himself mentally a few times. “I mean, you’re just out and proud…as cheesy as it sounds. You don’t care, you’re not bothered what people think. I admire that about you.”

He looked over to him again, cautiously, expecting Dean to be looking at him with even more confusion. But he wasn’t, he was looking out the window but Cas could see he was smiling – not the typical sarcastic, cheesy smile he usually saw him wore when he was annoying Charlie, but a flattered smile. “People don’t care about you either” Dean stopped himself, realising what he just said and how terrible and heartless he sounded, and about how much he didn’t mean it. “I mean, people don’t care about the fact you’re gay. No one really gives a shit anymore, if you like guys, you like guys – I have secrets I care about keeping more than the fact I like both guys and girls”

Cas didn’t pry.

For a few moments there was more silence, before Dean looked over to Cas and said: “You should talk to people more”

“People don’t like me”

“I know they do, I know Charlie has wanted to talk to you for ages, in her words she thinks you’re ‘downright adorable’ –  but she’s too scared she’ll scare you, because she also thinks you’re this little, vulnerable, anxious little kid” Dean told him.

“ Downright adorable? I thought Charlie was a lesbian?” Cas asked.

“I think puppies are adorable Cas, but I’m not into bestiality” Dean said flatly, Cas tried not to laugh but when he looked over to the other boy, who was also trying not to smile – it turned into contagious laughter, Cas had tears in his eyes and quickly tried to recover so he could concentrate on the road.

“I just realised” Cas said, suddenly stopping. Dean looked over to him, still laughing. “I don’t even know where you live”

And it was off again, the contagious laugher. “23 Babylon Lane” Dean told him between heavy breaths, he only managed to stop laughing when Cas actually pulled up outside his house. He looked over to Cas before he climbed out the car.

He agreed with Charlie. He was downright adorable.

“You should though. Talk to people more. Sit with me and Charlie tomorrow at lunch – it’d be…” He tried to think of the right word. “Nice”

And with that, he climbed out the car and then walked up the porch. Dean looked behind him, and saw Cas smiling at him as he drove off.

Absolutely downright adorable. 


	2. Chapter Two.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "everything you do is super fucking cute and I cant stand it" - NeverShoutNever

**Bubblegum Popcorn – Chapter Two.**

When his alarm went off at 7am Cas instantly regretted going to a concert on a school night, once again. Anna, who he shared a room with, was already running in and out the bathroom in her pyjamas, red hair damp against her back.

He groaned - Cas was the complete opposite of Anna, which meant he really, really wasn’t a morning person. She stopped as she was walking past his bed and saw he was awake. “What was wrong with you last night?” She asked.

Cas looked at her, clueless. Still laid flat in bed, fluffy, dark hair sticking in every direction it could manage. “You were in the best mood ever” She claimed.

_He’d walked in after dropping Dean off, almost skipping. Anna had been the only other person awake in the house, sitting up in her bed, reading glasses on the end of her nose, book rested on her lap.  She’d watched him as he came walking into the room, smiling to himself. “Did something happen at the concert?” She’d asked, curious._

_Of course, Cas just ignored the question. She knew he didn’t like her getting involved in his business, she didn’t take it personally. He didn’t like anyone getting involved in his business. Instead he changed the subject and asked why she was reading a book from his shelf before climbing into his bed. She swore she saw him smirk from the corner of her eye, but by the time she’d turned her page and looked back over, he was fast asleep._

“Dean” Cas whispered, sitting up in the bed instantly. Anna looked at her brother with raised eyebrows.

“Did you just say Dean?” Anna asked with her eyebrows raised. Cas almost fell out of the bed when every memory from last night came flooding back. He played the clueless card again and shook his head as he swing his feet over the side of the bed.

“I said nothing” He told her, she walked off and he ran off to the bedroom before she could steal it again.  He stood under the shower for twenty minutes, thinking through every little detail from the night before – constantly being distracted by Gabriel serenading their father downstairs with out of tune, old-school hip hop.

One thing ran through Cas’s head, even after he’d stepped out the shower. _“_ _I have secrets I care about keeping more than the fact I like both guys and girls”_

What did he even mean? Did Cas want to know?

Anna stood waiting for him, leant against her bed, school bag thrown over her shoulder. Fully dressed and hair in perfect curls. Cas had only been in the shower twenty minutes. _How do girls do that?_ He thought.

Downstairs, Gabriel was dancing around the kitchen in his nightgown – making breakfast for himself. Cas laughed at him, and Gabriel winked before starting to sing, louder than last time. Cas looked over to their Dad, who looked like he was torn between throwing his laptop out the window or Gabriel.

Cas looked over his father’s shoulders at what he was writing, he didn’t hear Anna shouting his name from the front door until her fifth attempt because he was too busy trying to make sense of the words on the computer screen.

Cas drove, Anna complained about the music on the radio.

Cas argued back, even though he was thinking about how Dean had asked him to sit with him and Charlie at lunch, and the side of his brain that hated him told him that he was going to most likely ignore Cas – since that’s what people usually did after speaking to him.

And that’s why he was so scared about starting to like Dean. A lot.

Even with his lack of concentration on the road, he managed to get both him and Anna to school safe, but slightly late – meaning Cas couldn’t linger at his locker a while, hoping Dean would walk past.

And he wasn’t in any of his lessons either.

This meant he didn’t see Dean till lunch, and when he did it was completely unexpected.

He was looking for a seat; he couldn’t see Dean, nor Charlie. He just stood there with his lunch tray in hand, when suddenly gently grabbed his shoulders. Dean.

“Dean, what on earth are you doing” He asked, pretending to be annoyed – hoping Dean couldn’t see his smirk.

“Making sure you don’t go back on your promise” Dean said, slowly turning him round – he saw Charlie smiling up at him. They’d been sat behind him all along.

Anna had made Cas watch enough high school dramas that in this situation he was well equipped to know that Dean was the cute boy everyone loved, and he was the stupid girl who made a fool of herself every time she was around him.

“I didn’t promise anything” Cas replied as he sat down, still smirking.

This lead into bickering between two – while Charlie just watched them, occasionally getting involved and siding with Cas, just to annoy Dean.

Cas tried to figure out desperately if they were flirting with one another.

Dean on the other hand, didn’t have to figure anything out; he knew he was flirting.

Five minutes before the bell for class was due to go, Cas realised he needed to get some books from his locker – he left in a rush. Sighing loudly when he saw a group of kids crowding around right near his locker.

Then he heard what they were chanting.

He’d also watched enough high school dramas to know that when a group of kids formed a circle in the corridor and started to chant ‘fight’ – it was bad news.

He approached the group cautiously, they were all freshmen. Cas knew this because he recognised the victim of the fight.

Sam Winchester.

If it was anyone else, he would of thought the situation through before jumping in and trying to break up the fight, but before he knew it – he was attempting to help Sam up, and then getting thrown against a locker by a freshman who was already taller than him, a fist connecting with his lip, then the taste of blood in his mouth.

That was when the teacher decided to appear, the Bully had no way to defend himself – he still had Cas pinned against the locker. The teacher told Cas to take himself and Sam to the nurse, and then told a passerby to find Sam Winchester’s older brother.

Cas helped Sam up, while holding a hand to his lip – together they walked to the nurse, earning a look of sympathy when she opened the door to them.

“Thanks for that” Sam said softly, after the nurse treated them and suggested they stayed there until the teacher came to check on them. “You’re Cas Novak right?” He asked.

Cas nodded. “Dean was talking about you last night, said you were awesome – I guess you saving my ass justifies that” Sam told him with a smile, getting distracted when Dean ran into the room.

“Holy shit, are you two alright?” Dean asked – Cas saw the guilt in his eyes as Dean looked over at his younger brother.

“Language!” The Nurse yelled from the other room. “Sam, Miss Leyland wants to see you in her office” She then said. Sam got up without a word; Dean went to say something to him but decided not to bother and looked back to Cas.

“Right, that’s it. We’re getting out of here” He told him, Cas looked up at him. “Come on” Dean instructed. Cas followed Dean out the room, confused.

“Dean we can’t just _leave_ ”

“Who said?”

“The school rules”

“That’s not a _who_ , Cas”

They didn’t even have to sneak – they just walked right out of the school and into the park across the street. It took five awkward minutes of silence for Cas to ask Dean what was wrong.

“That should have been me, you shouldn’t have gotten hurt” He said, looking down at the floor. “He knows how to fight back, but he won’t”

Cas looked over to him as they walked. “Why?”

“Because he sees the good in every godamned person on this planet – he won’t fight back because he doesn’t think it’s fair. I mean, Sam will look at this kid beating him up and instantly think they’re having problems at home or something, or that it’s not his fault he’s like this, it’s probably his parents.”

“- And you’re the opposite, you see the bad in everyone” Cas finished, suddenly feeling self-conscious. Dean looked over to him and could read his body language like he could read the morning newspaper, quickly he pointed a tree and nodded his head – Cas just followed him and both sat on the grass.

“I saw the good in you” Dean said after a while. “Straight away”

“Really?” Cas asked, suddenly looking up at him – surprised that someone’s first impression of him wasn’t that he was a stuck up rich kid constantly overshadowed by his sister. They weren’t even that rich.

For a moment Dean stared at him, inspecting every inch of Cas’s face – and then laughed. “You and your puppy dog eyes” He said, as if he’d known Cas for years and not for a day.

“Hey, you said puppies were cute last night” Cas reminded him.

“Yeah – but I also recall the word ‘bestiality’ being in the same sentence” Dean pointed out. “I did though – saw the good in you, last night. Like, I see people at concerts and they’re pushing, they’re bitter  because they’re not of barrier, they’re yelling stupid things at the bands – but you weren’t, you were stood at the back smiling, not just at the band, but at the audience which surprised me because I for one, know you are not a people person”

“I like watching people be happy. It sounds cheesy but I do. It’s not that I don’t like people, it’s how someone can look at you, and make an instant judgement – and then you wonder forever what they thought of you” Cas explained. _And I don’t think too much of myself, so why would they?_ He thought, but didn’t say anything; he didn’t want a pity party.

Dean nodded, he understood.

“Hey, Friday night – there’s a local band playing at a club down the road and I have an extra ticket – wanna come?” He asked Cas, eyes filled with hope. Even though the whole ‘I have an extra ticket’ thing was a lie but the band were old friends of his, he could get Cas in.

He wanted the perfect excuse to spend time with him, he wanted to spend time with him and see him happy – not when he’d accidently made him feel uncomfortable.

Cas didn’t even hesitate, Dean thought he did. “Of course I do” 


End file.
